Hierarchical Inclusion: The Untold History of Israel's Affirmative Action for Arab Citizens (1948–68)

The history of Israel's relationship with its Palestinian-Arab minority during the founding decades, from 1948 to 1968, is often portrayed as a story of formal citizenship that concealed large-scale, state-sanctioned oppression under military rule. This article excavates an untold history of employment affirmative action for Palestinian-Arab citizens of Israel during these two decades which does not fit neatly into this story. Drawing on original archival research, it reveals that, during Israel's founding decades, officials adopted hiring quotas for unskilled Arab workers and for educated Arabs; requirements and incentives for hiring Arabs in government offices, Jewish businesses, and organizations; earmarked jobs and established vocational training courses for the Arab population. It demonstrates that interests in safeguarding Jewish control and economic stability aligned with egalitarian aspirations, and motivated state officials to adopt measures that promoted the inclusion of the Arab population in the workforce, albeit on unequal terms. Furthermore, these measures were part of a transformation of the state's attitude towards Arab citizens, from strict military control to a regime of “hierarchical inclusion” entailing gradual integration into the Israeli economy — mostly though its lower tiers and with a second-class status. Tracing the use of these mechanisms, not then called affirmative action but recognizable as such today, to this period of subjected population management, complicates our understanding of both this chapter in Israel's history and of affirmative action more broadly.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind: China's Drilling Strategy for Its Soft Power Pipes in Israel

We proposed a theoretical conceptualization and identified China’s operating strategy (“drilling targets”) for its soft power “pipes” in Israel. These “pipes” are consciously directed towards a certain elite that tends to uphold the human rights discourse on behalf of the general public but even more so vis-à-vis decision-makers. China, in turn, can obtain legitimization for its involvement in the Israeli economy by investing in initiatives promoting the interests and values upheld by this elite rather than in peripheral social initiatives. Meanwhile, the same Israeli elite persists in its heightened sensitivity to human rights violations vis-à-vis the Palestinian population but does not go out of its way, to say the least, to protest alleged violations of human rights in China. Thus it invites or legitimizes Chinese involvement in the Israeli economy. It has been “co-opted” by China. These elite communities, which are highly sensitive to violations of human rights in their close vicinity, are able to overlook such violations when they are carried out far away by those who invest billions in areas of interest to the elites.

ON THE ISSUE OF COVID-19 INFLUENCE ON THE ISRAELI SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

This paper evaluates the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on social and economic development of Israel. We begin with a short description of the state of affairs in Israel from social, economic and political points of view before the advent of pandemic. First, we analyze the role of ongoing Israeli political crisis in the current environment, describe leading political actors’ reaction and list some politically-destabilizing factors. We proceed with an analysis of COVID-19 impact on various economic branches and on Israeli economy as a whole. We provide estimates of adverse impact of the coronavirus on some important industries, such as tourism, energy, diamonds and air transport, supplemented by Bank of Israel economic forecast for post-crisis development. Additionally, we describe how high-tech sector as one of the drivers of Israeli economy is trying to adapt to the new environment brought by the pandemic. Despite the negative shocks on exports and labor markets, Israeli high-tech sector is flexible and ready to reorganize itself to better react for changing market conditions. This has already been reflected in the way how entrepreneurs and researchers are channeling their efforts into high-demand areas such as medicine and telecommunications, which in itself suggests existence of positive trends in the industry. We conclude our paper with a brief summary and a forecast of the development of Israeli economy. Despite diverse opinions on the efficiency of anti-crisis measures adopted by Israeli government, we admit that the current crisis is a substantial challenge for Israeli society but we also maintain that COVID-19 pandemic will not pose any existential threat to Israeli national economy.